Platform(s) & Release date(s)

Fire Emblem Gaiden (ファイアーエムブレム外伝 Faiā Emuburemu Gaiden) is the second installment in the Fire Emblem series developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. The game was released on March 14, 1992 in Japan. It is also the second and final Fire Emblem series title to be released exclusively on the Famicom. It serves as a side story to the original game ("Gaiden" is literally Japanese for "side story"), and takes place on a different location—the continent Valentia—and thus has no bearing on the first game's narrative. However, a few characters from the original game, such as the Whitewings, do make return appearances.

Contents

The game follows two protagonists, lifelong friends Alm and Celica, over the course of five chapters and takes place in two kingdoms on the continent of Valentia: Rigel and Zofia. The world map is slowly revealed for players to traverse through the game's five chapters.

The first chapter begins with Alm training under Mycen in Ram Village, and witnessing the arrival of Luka, who has come to the village seeking Mycen's aid. He reveals that the Zofian general Dozer has launched a coup and sacked Zofia Castle, killing the king in the process. In response, a group of knights under Clive have formed a Zofia Liberation Army against him, but have been put on the ropes and now request that Mycen lead them. Mycen refuses to get involved and forbids Alm from doing so as well, but Alm chooses to go in his stead regardless. Alm, alongside the villagers Qulyf, Robin, and Gray, join with Luka and set out of the village.

On the way to the Liberation Army's HQ, Alm's party rescues Silk, a cleric of Mila, from bandits in the Thief Shrine and comes across the Southern Fortress. Here, they clash with Dozer's forces for the first time, and find Clive's sister Claire imprisoned within. Once they arrive at the headquarters, Clive requests that Alm take control of the Zofia Liberation Army. Alm also learns that Dozer has entered into alliance with Rigel and hears a rumor that the recent crop failures is due to Mila's disappearance.

At the castle of Zofia Castle, Alm's forces enter battle with Dozer and his lieutenant Slayder. After felling either Slayder or Dozer's double, Dozer retreats back to his own fortress, vowing revenge. At the top of the castle, Alm reunites with Mycen, who ventured to Zofia Castle on his own in secret. Mycen encourages Alm to follow the path he believes in and release Valentia from its cursed fate.

On the island of Novis, Celica sets off from Novis Monastery and parts ways with Nomah, the sage who Mycen entrusted her with, to discover the truth behind Mila's disappearance. She is accompanied by fellow cleric Jenny and the mages Boey and Mae. At Novis Port, Celica hires the mercenary Savor to protect them as they travel to the mainland by ship. After clashing with the pirates plaguing the seas, Celica arrives the Pirate's Fortress, where her party comes to the aid of the knight Valbo in his battle against the pirate lord Dahha. Celica also encounters a Draco Zombie in the Sea Shrine guarding the Holy Sword.

At Zofia Port, Celica briefly meets with Palla and Catria, who have traveled to Valentia tracking down the pirates who kidnapped their sister Est. Celica parts ways with the Pegasus Knights and makes her way to Zofia Castle, where she reunites with Mycen. Mycen sends her up to Alm and the two reunite, though they soon argue over whether war with Rigel is necessary and Alm's plans to find the missing princess of Zofia (unaware that Celica is said princess). Celica then departs for the Temple of Mila.

After Celica leaves Zofia Castle, a landslide separates her from Alm's forces. At the Zofian Coast, Celica again encounters the Whitewings and assists them in battling bandits loyal to Geyse. At Zofia Port, Palla reveals that they were actually looking for Celica and wishes to lend their strength to Celica's journey in return for helping them rescue Est. Celica soon arrives at a Mountain Village that has fallen into decline due to Geyse's constant ravaging and abduction of the youth to work as his slaves. Here, she meets the villager Atlas, who joins with them to stop Geyse.

After liberating the Desert Fortress, Celica comes across the mercenary Jesey, who was imprisoned for attempting to rescue Est from Geyse. Jesi is at first unsure that the army can defeat Geyse, but also points out the animosity between Geyse and his subordinates Sonya and Deen, who hold each other in check. Jesi states that if Celica defeats one, the other will join them. At Geyse's Fortress, Celica finally defeats the pirate and earns the loyalty of the officer who she didn't slay. She also liberates Geyse's prisoners, among them Est and a priestess of Mila who knew Celica's mother, Liprica. After recounting the tale of how she came to be wed to the king of Zofia and her death, the priestess gives Celica a circlet that proves her identity as princess of Zofia.

Once they arrive at the Temple of Mila, they find it occupied by shamans of Duma let by Michael. After defeating the shamans, Celica learns from the priestesses within that the temple was attacked by the Rigel army and that Mila was sealed by King Rudlf in the Falchion, which he received from Duma. In order to pass forward, Celica must open the floodgate beneath the temple simultaneously with the one at the Water Gate.

Meanwhile, Alm's forces enter into battle with the Rigel army in the regions north of the castle. Alm's forces make their way to the Forest Village, where they are approached by Luthier, who requests their aid in recusing his sister Dyute from Tatra. Alm also learns that the Rigel forces are forcing the Water Gate closed and that it must be opened before it floods Zofia.

Alm's forces lay siege to Dozer's Fortress, and in a panic, Dozer orders that his men execute Machilda, who they had captured. Dozer is slain, and with his dying breath he accuses Mycen of selling out Zofia to Rudlf's son. Within the castle, Alm revives the Royal Sword and recruits Machilda into his army.

Once they arrive at the Water Gate, Tatra orders the brainwashed Dyute to attack Alm's forces, but she is freed when Tatra is slain. Inside the gate, Dyute reunites with Luthier and joins Alm's army, and the two floodgates are opened, allowing both Alm and Celica to venture into Rigel proper.

Within the Temple of Mila, Celica reunites with Nomah, who followed them in secret and fell down into the basement, and joins them to give himself peace of mind. Celica's forces begin to fight their way through the swamp and reach the fortress of Dolk, who attempts to fight them off by summoning Draco Zombies. Eventually, Celica arrives at the Sage Hamlet, where she meets with Hark, the former High Priest of Duma who was defeated by Juda and banished. Hark confirms that the Falchion lays beneath Duma Tower, but comments that Juda will not allow anyone to come near the tower. At Celica's request, he increases Alm's power, promoting him to Hero.

Meanwhile, Alm's forces begin their attack on Rigel, fighting their way through Terror Mountain and to the mansion of Nuibaba, a necromancer who has gained great power by selling his soul for the Medusa spell. After defeating Nuibaba, Alm finds the Rigelian priestess Teeta imprisoned in the manor. Teeta explains that she was kidnapped by Nuibaba and Jerowm to force her lover Zeak to fight, as he opposed the war. Teeta accompanies Alm's army as it engages Jerowm and Zeke, allowing Zeak to betray Jerowm. At the Rigel Village, Alm and Zeak reunite and Zeak is at first unwilling to betray Rudlf, who showed him kindness after he washed up on shore without his memories, but changes his mind upon seeing Alm's birthmark, as Rudlf instructed him to follow the bearer of this mark as he would be Rigel's savior.

Celica's forces enter the Duma Swamp, where they are ambushed by Juda and a horde of Mogalls. After fighting their way through the Mogalls, they approach Duma Tower. Atop the tower, Juda introduces himself and shows her a vision of Alm's forces struggling against the Draco Zombies of Dragon Mountain. Juda offers to open Alm's path in return for Celica and her army allowing themselves to be sacrificed to Duma.

Freed from Dragon Mountain, Alm's forces push on to Rigel Castle, where they enter battle with Rudlf's forces. During the battle, Rudlf refuses to attack Alm and is cut down, revealing with his dying breaths that Alm is actually his son Alphine and entrusting him to claim the Falchion and defeat Duma. Within the castle, Alm is met by General Massena and the remnants of Rudlf's army, who hail Alm as their new king. Alm meets Mycen within the castle as well, who explains that Rudlf entrusted Alm to him in hopes that Alm would be able to free Valentia from the chains of the gods, who are inadvertently leading the land to ruin, and that Rudlf was willing to make himself a destroyer so that the heroes of the land would rise to stop him. Mycen joins Alm's army and encourages him to march onwards to Duma's temple to rescue Celica and defeat Duma.

Alm and his army venture into the Temple of Duma and fight their way through the god's servants as Celica's party struggles and Juda and Duma. Alm comes across the temple treasurey and is forced to go through along, fighting against powerful monsters for the right to claim the Falchion. Falchion in hand, Alm fights his way to Duma's altar and reunites with Celica's army. There, the two reconcile and begin to fight against the onslaught of Mogells being commanded by Juda and his daughters Marla and Heste.

After slaying Juda, Alm and Celica enter into battle with Duma himself, with the god appearing to be invincible. Alm is ultimately able to seal the god into a great slumber with the power of Mila through the Falchion, and with his last words, Duma entrusts Valentia to Alm and warns him against repeating their mistakes or reawakening them.

After the war, Alm and Celica unify the continent into the Kingdom of Valentia, and become the new kingdom's first king and queen.

While the basic battle engine and formula from the original game are still present in Fire Emblem Gaiden, a number of new gameplay features were added or changed:

Regular stat caps were raised to 40.

The Villager class features branching promotion trees, allowing the player to select a character's promotion class.

Class change is done in special shrines, without the need to use special items.

Only special weapons need to be equipped, and neither these nor the unit's default weapons will ever break.

Spells are learned through leveling up, and they drain the spellcaster's hit points with each use, but would take the unit's Power stat into account for determining the amount of damage dealt or healed (something that didn't happen in the first installment of the series)

The game also features an overworld map that players can travel through between battles and towns that can be freely explored, with more territory becoming available as the game progresses.

The first appearance of the support system in Alm and Celica getting a critical when near each other.

It is a popular belief that, despite the numerous changes to the Fire Emblem formula, most of the later games in the series reverted to the gameplay of the original Fire Emblem before evolving into new directions. Such claim is false, however, as a number of new features are in fact revisions or further developments of Gaiden's novelties, such as Genealogy of the Holy War's limited and permanent items and class-change system, The Sacred Stones's and Awakening's navigable world map and branching class promotions, Radiant Dawn's tiered promotions and branching storylines, and Fates's unbreakable weapons.